The Propeller Club of Piraeus, the largest chapter of the International Propeller Club, gathered its well-connected members and guests at the Acropolis Museum in Athens.
A highlight of the evening on 14 July at the organisation’s oldest active chapter outside the US was the rare showing of John Mytilineos, the low-profile founder of shipping company M/Maritime and co-founder of Mytilineos Holdings, an energy and industrial group.
Mytilineos described himself as somebody rather “grounded and focused on harsh reality”, in contrast to his brother, Evangelos, who supplied the vision that turned Mytilineos Holdings into one of Greece’s rapidly expanding conglomerates.
Receiving a Propeller Members’ Award of Excellence from Piraeus club president Costas Frangoulis, John Mytilineos said he never expected to get such recognition for his 40 years of work, but was thankful.
M/Maritime, which he set up in 2016, has a managed fleet of 19 modern bulkers.
Mytilineos thanked his family for their support — especially his two daughters, “who went to bed before I got home, most of the time”.
Guests at the event included George Tsunis, the US ambassador to Greece; and finance minister Christos Staikouras.
Frangoulis praised the minister for pushing ahead with the privatisation and reopening of Greece’s Skaramangas and Elefsina shipyards.
“Our country needs active, productive and reliable shipyards … the strongest shipping in the world deserves a strong shipbuilding and repair industry,” Frangoulis said.
Piraeus is gearing up to host the 96th Propeller Club World Convention & Conference in Athens in September.
